BERLIN: Norwegian 17-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen and British sprinter Dina Asher-Smith swept to double gold at the European athletics championships on Saturday.

Ingebrigtsen captured the 5,000m title to add to the 1,500m he won 24 hours earlier.

The teenager edged out his brother Henrik with France’s Morhad Amdouni, who was the 10,000m champion, claiming bronze.

Already the youngest ever European champion by winning the 1,500m, Ingebrigtsen crossed the line in 13 minutes 17.06 seconds, with Henrik in 13:18.75 and Amdouni clocking 13:19.14.

France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi, who had won the 3,000m steeplechase for his fifth career European title on Thursday, pulled out of the race earlier in the day.

Asher-Smith, 22, won the 200m to complete the sprint double after she had become the first British woman to claim the 100m title since 1962. The defending champion triumphed in 21.89 seconds, the best time in the world this year.

Olympic Games silver medallist Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands was second in 22.14 seconds to add to her bronze in the 100m. Another Dutchwoman Jamile Samuel was third in 22.37 seconds.

Croatia’s Sandra Perkovic became the first woman to win five European golds with victory in the discus thanks to a throw of 67.62 metres.

The 28-year-old double Olympic champion finished ahead of German pair, Nadine Mueller and Shanice Craft.

Poland’s Adam Kszczot won a third successive men’s 800m title, taking revenge on French runner Pierre-Ambroise Bosse who defeated him for the gold at the world championships in London last year.

Kszczot, 28, won in a time of 1min 44.59sec with Sweden’s Andreas Kramer taking silver and Bosse managing third place.

Poland’s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic took victory in the women’s 400m in 50.41 seconds, the best European time this season.

The 25-year-old finished ahead of Greece’s Maria Belibasaki (50.45 seconds) and Lisanne de Witte who was third in a new Dutch record of 50.77 seconds.

Germany’s Mateusz Przybylko delighted the Berlin Olympic Stadium crowd by taking gold in the men’s high jump with a leap of 2.35 metres.

Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus was second with 2.33-metre jump while Russia’s Ilya Ivanyuk, competing as a neutral athlete, was third on 2.31 metres.

Malaika Mihambo then made it a double German celebration with victory in the women’s long jump with a best performance of 6.75 metres, two centimetres better than Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh and five centimetres ahead of Shara Proctor of Britain.

Belgian brothers Dylan, Jonathan and Kevin Borlee as well as teammate Jonathan Sacoor took gold in the men’s 4x400m relay, defending their title in the process.

In a time of 2min 59.47sec, the Belgium squad finished ahead of Great Britain, who had 400m individual champion Matthew Hudson-Smith in their line-up, while Spain took bronze.

Poland claimed the women’s 4x400m ahead of France and Great Britain.

Nikita Nagornyy kept his nerve during the last high bar exercise to help Russia win the men’s team gymnastics final in Glasgow.

A day after Russia badly struggled on the apparatus in qualification, Nagornyy avoided risks in an unspectacular but solid routine for 13.966 points. The score raised his team’s total to 257.260, nearly four points clear of runners-up Britain, and more than 10 ahead of third-place France.

Trailing Russia by just over one point at the last rotation, Britain failed in their quest for gold after both Dominick Cunningham and James Hall lost grip during their high bar exercises.

With Nagornyy, David Belyavskiy and Nikolai Kuksenkov, Russia fielded three gymnasts from the team that won silver at the 2016 Olympics.

However, it got off to a slow start as Nagornyy failed to score 14s on floor and pommel horse, as did Dmitrii Lankin on the rings.

Russia gradually took control and performed near flawlessly on the parallel bars as both Belyavskiy and Artur Dalaloyan scored over 15.4, setting up the showdown for the title with Britain on the high bar.

In other events, Iceland’s golfers won the inaugural mixed team competition at Gleneagles, edging Britain 3 by one stroke.

The format had a man and a woman in the same team playing alternate shots using the same ball, while their total for 18 holes was added to the score from another team from the same nation.

Valdis Thora Jonsdottir and Birgir Hafthorsson carded a 2-under 70, and Olafia Kristinsdottir teamed up with Axel Boasson for a 71 to earn Iceland the gold medal.

Also, the Netherlands won the mixed team relay in open water swimming at Loch Lomond for their fourth gold from as many events.

There was another gold medal for the Netherlands in the women’s BMX final as Laura Smulders defended her European title, two months after also winning the world title. Kyle Evans won the men’s race ahead of Kye Whyte for a British 1-2 finish.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2018